Sandpoint moves closer to taking control of streets

SANDPOINT — The conversion of downtown city streets from one-way to two-way traffic moved a little closer to reality last week when the Idaho Transportation Department Board approved a reversion agreement between the city and the state.

“It’s a done deal,” ITD Board Secretary Sue Higgins confirmed Monday.

The ITD Board voted unanimously at its March 25 meeting to authorize ITD Director Brian Ness to sign the two agreements that will eventually lead to the return of Cedar and Pine streets, and First Avenue to local control.

The city signed the agreement in February.

Officially designated Highway 2, those downtown streets currently operate as one-way only under ITD ownership and operational control. Superior Street, formerly part of Highway 95 prior to completion of the Sand Creek Byway, is also part of the deal.  

In exchange, Fifth Avenue between Cedar and Pine streets — also currently a one-way street — would be reconfigured to handle two-way traffic, and absorb all of Highway 2 traffic in both directions.

Funding the $2.5 million project is the next step in the process, one that is “still being worked out,” according to Marvin Fenn, ITD district engineering manager.

The money could potentially come from two different transportation funds. The first, the “Board Unallocated” fund, is used by ITD for unanticipated projects such as the Fifth Avenue conversion. Or a project somewhere else in the state may be delayed, and the funding transferred to the Sandpoint project, according to Fenn.

It’s too late for the project to happen this summer. Funding the project in time to be prepared to break ground in 2016 remains up in the air.

“The high hope is next summer,” Fenn said.

Much remains to be done beforehand, however, and nothing can happen until there’s money to do the work. Once funded, the project remains to be designed, a small amount right of way negotiated and purchased, underground utilities located and adjusted, along with host of other project design work.

According to ITD project development engineer Jerry Wilson, Fifth Avenue will look different once the highway is finally opened to two-way traffic. For starters, there will be no parking along Fifth. That space will be taken up by left-turn lanes.

Through traffic in each direction will navigate between Cedar and Pine via a single lane, with left turn lanes in both directions onto Oak and Church streets.

Main Street will be right-in, right-out only, with no access to or from southbound Fifth.

A new traffic signal will be installed at Church Street. Traffic from Oak Street will remain controlled by stop signs. The signal at Pine and Fifth will be removed, and the curve from Fifth to Pine will be widened to accommodate commercial truck traffic.

Pedestrians will be accommodated at all signalized intersections. And another “rectangular rapid flashing beacon” like those elsewhere on Fifth for pedestrians will be installed somewhere between Oak and Church, but “closer to Oak,” according to Wilson.

“They’re preferred to be used mid-block,” Wilson said.

Downtown city streets will get a makeover as well, but only after the work on Fifth is completed and highway traffic shifted to Fifth Avenue. The state is committed to re-striping the former one-way streets to two-way stripping, and removing its large green highway signs and structures.

One portion of Pine Street will remain one-way, however, according to Wilson. Westbound Pine between Fourth and Fifth will be closed, and motorists will be restricted from traveling on Pine toward Priest River its intersection with Fifth.  

“Having that two-way on Pine ends up locking things up,” Wilson said of traffic modeling at the intersection of Fifth and Pine.

Fifth Avenue is predicted to immediately operate at a level of service “D” during peak traffic hours once the project is completed, and for 10 years after, officials said.

Congestion during the estimated six- to eight-week construction period is another matter.

“It’s going to be congested during construction,” Wilson warned.

Summer is the peak construction season. It’s also the peak tourist season, when families and others travel. The construction season is made shorter due to a locally high water table, Wilson said, forcing adjustments to available construction periods.

“We’ve had to wait until later in the season,” Wilson said of past projects.

Congestion on city streets adjacent to Fifth Avenue will be dicey. Side streets such as Church and Cedar could experience delays for as long as two signal cycles, mainly during peak hour.

“Most of the time you won’t” experience that level of congestion, Wilson said.

The agreements between the city and ITD note that maintaining the highway level of service has priority over congestion on Sandpoint streets, even if it means local traffic suffers. Signal timing is required to favor highway through traffic.

Agreement language also stipulates if highway congestion falls below LOS D, a new highway capacity project to relieve traffic gridlock on the highway will be triggered automatically. The agreement expressly identifies the abandoned Curve project route along former railroad right of way that now belongs to ITD.

But such a project could also be built along a westside route, according to city officials.